BLUE-GREEN ALLIANCE SPEAKS OUT FOR NEW ENERGY

Job Opportunities For The Green Economy is a new report touted by the Blue Green Alliance and other groups associated with the national Green Jobs For America campaign.

The Blue Green Alliance is a unique partnership between the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club.

Congress’s continued failure to extend the vital New Energy production tax credits (PTCs) and investment tax credits (ITCs) before they expire at the end of this year is a major current focus of the Green Jobs campaign. The Job Opportunities report demonstrates what will be lost if the Congressional gridlock is not broken.

David Foster, executive director, Blue Green Alliance: "The future of our economy depends on investments in renewable-energy sources like wind and solar power…We already know that hundreds of thousands of Americans work in jobs that could contribute to a green economy. Failing to extend these tax credits would be a missed opportunity to simultaneously create jobs and make our country more energy independent, while at the same time doing our part to improve the environment for our kids and our grandkids."

The American Wind Energy Association's Legislative Action page makes it easy to get involved. Want to tell Congress to get busy? Click here.

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Renewable-Energy Tax Credits Essential to Building Green Economy; Blue Green Alliance Says Failing to Extend Tax Credits Detrimental To Creating Middle-Class Jobs, Improving Environment
August 1, 2008 (PR Newswire via COMTEX/MarketWatch)

WHO
The Blue Green Alliance (David Foster, executive director); The Department of Labor (Labor); United Steelworkers; Sierra Club; Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

WHAT
The Green Jobs For America campaign (the United Steelworkers, Sierra Club, Blue Green Alliance, NRDC and other groups) is calling for Congress to extend the New Energy production tax credits (PTCs) and investment tax credits (ITCs) before they expire at the end of the year as part of its drive for development of the New Energy sector.

There are a lot of opportunities. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- Labor announced August 1 that U.S. employers eliminated 51,000 jobs in July, moving unemployment to the highest it has been in 4 years.
- The New Energy PTCs and ITCs expire December 31, 2008. They have been rejected by Congress 5 times in the last 7 months.

WHERE
- The Jobs, Energy, Families, and Disaster Relief Act of 2008 – which contained a measure extending the PTCs and ITCs was rejected in the Senate the week of August 1.
- Green Jobs for America is at work in twelve states - Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

WHY
- Job Opportunities For The Green Economy, from University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) and the Center for American Progress (CAP), was written by Robert Pollin and Jeannette Wicks-Lim.
- The report demonstrates hundreds of thousands already possess the requisite skills, at every skill level, that will be in high demand and provide job security in key New Energy industries in the fight against global climate change and shift the U.S. to a domestic energy economy.
- The industries and businesses dependent on the ITCs and PTCs will grow to provide hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs, increase domestic energy capacity and energy efficiency and help mitigate global climate change.
- The New Energy ITCs/PTCs would require $18 billion from the budget and cost an estimated $19 billion in investment plus 116,000 jobs if allowed to expire.

The Apollo Alliance has proposed a big green jobs program - with big potential benefits. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
David Foster, executive director, Blue Green Alliance: "We need a new energy policy that reinvests in America…Extending these renewable-energy tax credits is a necessary step to moving our country and our economy forward -- keeping and creating good jobs here at home that reinvigorate the economy and combat the global climate crisis."